Yearly Archives: 2012

Way to embrace new technology. First, JavaScript is one of the best pure OO languages out there. Second, Node.js represents the future of web technologies. I am a senior PHP dev and have recently jumped on the Node.js bandwagon. While Apache is a solid and stable technology, it's very much antiquated in both its design and capabilities. Look at the benchmarks for Apache vs. Node.js as a web server. PHP (and other established languages) may reign supreme for large-scale web apps for the foreseeable future, but for smaller projects, newer projects and APIs, Node.js may be the best new technology out there.

I would equate this guy to all of the old-school Microsoft developers who thought (and many somehow still think) that PHP & MySQL would never be able to scale for larger sites like, oh I don't know... Facebook? Twitter? It's amazing that I still find MS devs who laugh at PHP and are stuck thinking it's still what it was in 3.x.

I'm sure there will always be places for guys like the author of this blog, but it really feels like he'll be left behind in the next movement of web technologies.

I am a senior web developer and i have worked on different technology like C#, Asp, Vb, java and some of the experiance on Php. But node.js is a new web technology and now days is very usefull for small type of project, new one project, and for Api its great usage in there type of project.

I have been programming PHP for 8 years...and not your speghatti code...I think you are just insecure about nodejs and shunning it without giving it a chance...

"Node.js is single-threaded only. You use non-blocking calls and callback functions. In these days of multicore servers, why would anyone design a language to be only single-threaded?"

Did it occur to you that you are a retard and you don't know how to scale nodejs to multiple cores, and even take advantage of hyperthreading with kernel tuning?

PHP is awesome but the prefork MPM doesnt scale and the other MPM doesnt work with most of the libraries, so if you require concurency Nodejs is the way to go...If you are just making a website PHP is the way to go, if you are making a big data scalable high simultaneous hit application nodejs is the way to go.

I've only ever been asked for SSN (at a pre-offer stage...once there's an offer, they'll get it from your W4 and I9 forms) by recruiters twice. I didn't give it to either of them, but it's no coincidence that the same firms also helped poison my reputation in the local business community by sending my resume to clients without asking me first (which thus caused me to be double-submitted at a few companies, and thus barred for life from ever working at those companies).

If another one ever asks, I'm hanging up the phone, or walking out of the office. No recruiter _needs_ your SSN. The employer's HR department needs it once they make an offer, for tax reasons, but until that stage, don't give it out.

The sleazy headhunters demand the SSN, so it's a way of filtering out the sleazy ones.

Sometimes, employers do a credit check or background check. In that case, the offer should be conditional on passing the background check, and you should give it then.

The sleazy headhunters also demand meeting you first. I've gotten jobs through headhunters, but never through one who wanted to meet me first.

You are a freaking moron and a tool. People join the military because they buy into the propaganda about freedom or other such bullshit, or they are hostile belligerent dumb fucks looking to kill. Some of them join because it is a cultural thing in the sense that their dad and grandpa were warriors. Most really don't think about it as thinking isn't a skill highly valued in a warrior; following orders is.

You don't defend my ass you dumb fuck. You are cannon fodder for U.S. military industrial corporate profit. Read Smedley Butler's essay about what a fool he was. You don't deserve a disability check you deadweight piece of shit. You deserve to be hanged for your crime.

The country has been overrun by people like Hitler, or Stalin. If you recall uncle Joe was our ally and Hitler had much support among our conservatives and our business community. Our war criminals in charge are no different than Hitler or Stalin except that they run a much more costly more well armed military machine.

As for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, why do you lump him in with Hitler or Stalin? Who has Iran ever attacked? The only reason our war criminals in charge don't want Iran to have a nuke is because that is the only effective deterrent against a U.S. attack.

Some people do go to war to get rich. They are often called General or Admiral. Most that go to war to get rich are among our wealthiest corporations. Arms dealers and other war profiteers make billions because dumb fucks like you go kill for them.

Until people like you wake up and realize that you are part of the problem the world will never have peace. While some of us are busy creating new things and fixing old things and making the world more peaceful and beautiful, all you create is death, destruction, chaos, pain and hatred. You are truly an unevolved piece of shit. I hope you die a slow painful death.

I prefer "no swearing", although I agree with the other points you make.

This is very interesting topic. And to you Anonymous Coward, I like the way you laid down your opinion about this. And I was so surprised that these things are actually happening inside the government. This should be given enough priority and attention.

Wow, you are getting a lot of hate mail and people arguing against you because you are stating simple facts plainly. Hang in there. Your logic is sound and your articles reasonable.

A lot of it is for old posts, especially the node.js one.

I'm looking at job ads. When I see requirements for things like Design Patterns, Agile, or Scrum, I know the employer is clueless. Unfortunately, the large volume of clueless people have driven the competent people out of the market.

I no longer look for jobs and work for myself. I hate recruitment. It makes my skin crawl. I have enough money to survive.

A little while I got contacted by a dedicated recruiter working for a tech company. I hadn't applied to this company. In fact they asked me to apply about 5 years ago. I did back then and never heard back from them. In effect their second contact was predestined to fail as taking 5 years to give interview feedback is bound to piss someone off.

Anyway after finding out about the interview process, it seems they wanted me to write my interview answers on an Internet web-page not protected by a password or https or anything really. The Internet page had my name in bold at the top.

It is quite easy to get bitten. A page isn't really secure if it can be accessed just by guessing its URL. Plus there are robots crawling the Internet that make both permanent and temporary copies of anything they find. The Internet archive crawls the Internet and anything it finds will be stored permanently.

Call me old-fashioned, but I thought interviews were supposed to be private.

The company wanted to test me in computer languages I hadn't used for 7 years. I told the recruiter I was programming in different languages now and that I was prepared to solve problems, but didn't want to be tested on syntax and precise library APIs. The recruiter ignored my request.

In essence they wanted to test me in computer programming languages I hadn't used for 7 years and then publish the results in a non-protected manner on the Internet.

Maybe nobody would guess the URL. Maybe nobody would see the results. Maybe nothing bad would have happened.

I am an experienced software developer who sells quality software and makes a living from it. Call me paranoid but I don't want to be rushing into writing some bad code and then having the whole world see it.

I cancelled the interview. What is your take on this? Was I being too careful or was I justified?

Why do you need a watch when everyone carries a cell phone with a built-in clock?

I suppose cell phones do emit some radiation and so it is safer to switch them off.

A watch is more convenient than taking my cell phone out of my pocket.

I also am offended by interview questions based on obscure language features. Most C++ technical tests have obscure questions on multiple inheritance, such as what happens when the two base classes have functions with the exact same name. I've never seen a C++ class that actually used multiple inheritance, especially not in the obscure twisted way of most interview questions.

My long-term goal is to start my own business. For now, I'm looking for a regular wage slave job.

A few years ago, when I went to Best Buy, I was impressed. Most of the staff was alert and intelligent. The store inventory was well organized. Now, when I go to Best Buy, it seems like nobody there cares.

I need a new digital watch. The watches are designed to break in 3-4 years. It’s cheaper to get a new watch than change the battery or replace the wristband. I’m offended by products that are designed to break, but that’s my only purchasing options.

My old watch was from J&R for $20, but I ruled them out due to insufficient subway service. Some trains still aren’t working after Hurricane Sandy. I would have to make extra transfers. I was already in Manhattan for an interview with a useless headhunter, and there was a Best Buy nearby. I decided to give Best Buy a try.

The cheapest watch was $50, and they weren’t as nice as my old watch. They were bigger, had more features I didn’t want, and lacked the ones I do want.

I decided to get the $50 watch. I figured that after a few years of inflation, the $20 watch wasn’t available anymore. I couldn’t easily search J&R’s website for my old watch.

However, Best Buy was out of the $50 watches. They had a nice display, but no inventory. It took me 5 minutes to get a clerk to tell me they were out of watches. They had more expensive ones, but the boxes were all crushed.

I went to J&R. They still had the $20 watch. It looked identical to my old one. I saved $30, and Best Buy lost $50.

I’m disgusted by Best Buy’s declining quality. It reminds me of Circuit City and K-Mart before their bankruptcy. The store was a mess and the employees didn’t care.

The headhunter was useless. He made me wait for 45 minutes! They gave me a form demanding my SSN! I walked out. I should have known better. I’d been in that headhunter’s office a couple times before, and they never got me a single interview. I should blacklist the headhunters with proven lousy quality.

This website is bizarre. It's not often I see so much hatred towards others. :sigh:

I have noticed that you quite often write 'PHP/LAMP' and would wish to let it be known that the 'P' in LAMP refers to PHP.

Or course, other technologies (Perl & Python) like to think they also have 'usage' for the 'P', but as your article clearly demonstrates: there are many who just follow fads and want to be included, most often for the wrong reasons.

Either write 'LAMP' or if you insist on writing redundant notation, use: 'Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/LAMP'.

Nevertheless, your article was a good read, simply because it does burst the 'I love node.js' bubble. I would suggest using softer words in the future, however.

PS: It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to set up a secure/hardened LAMP server from scratch. This includes downloading the latest OS of choice. I am not particularly linux savvy and it really shouldn't take you a whole day :P

I had never set up a full LAMP before, and I'd never been root before. I also had to look up all the proper security rules, such as disabling ssh for root and setting up an ssh tunnel for the mysql gui client.

If setting up Linux servers was my full-time job, I could do it quickly.

The standard argument is “I risked my life protecting your freedom! I deserve this disability check!”

Please PROVE your statement.....yet I believe it to be rant from a coward. It lemmings, such as yourself, that didn't have the courage to serve. So is your site of rant a way of "getting back" at those bullies in grade school? Vets don't fuck with people who don't deserve it, so lay off asshole.

I already gave the reasoning. Most of the things the military does is a waste or harmful. If you risk your life for a lie and get injured, you don't deserve any sympathy.

It isn't heroic to blindly obey orders and do bad things.

Some policemen do helpful things, like catching murderers or robbers. Most of the things that police do is a waste.

I do concede that our government is corrupt due to it being purchased by special interests. But if taxes are theft, then how do we build an infrastructure that can sustain the free market? And please don't reference how we got along so well before we even had an income tax. Because I agree that we spend too much on the federal level. But where do we get money to fund a defense program?

Why is a huge defense program needed?

You have it backwards. Government doesn't support the free market. The (partially) free market supports all the waste and theft and fraud of government.

This story is interesting. Due to an obscure loophole in the way the NFL’s instant replay rule works, the Detroit Lions were penalized and denied the opportunity for replay review on what would have negated a touchdown and big gain by the Houston Texans. Houston won the game in overtime.

With instant replay available on TV, it was unfair that obviously-wrong calls could not be fixed. This led to the NFL implementing a system of replay review.

To avoid wasting time, it’s a challenge-based system. A coach has a red flag to throw when he wants a replay review. If a challenge fails, the team is charged with a timeout. If the challenge succeeds, there is no charged timeout. A team only gets two challenges per game (and later they added a 3rd challenge if the first two succeed). Also, a team cannot challenge a call if they are out of timeouts.

Only certain things are subject to review. For example, if there is a fumble shown on replay, but the referee blew his whistle early, then there would be a missed opportunity to recover the fumble or to advance the fumble. Players have to stop when the whistle blows for safety reasons. Also, certain judgement calls are not subject to review, including most penalties.

Because of the “whistle stops play” rule, referees are encouraged to not blow the whistle if there’s doubt, and let the replay fix it later. That may have happened on the play in the Detroit game. The referee may have been uncertain if the runner was down, and decided to let the play continue but fix it via replay later.

However, the challenge replay system has problems. At the end of the half, a team may be out of timeouts. This was handled with a different system. After the 2 minute warning or in overtime, there are no more challenges. Instead, a “replay official” decides if a play needs review, and buzzes the referee if he decides “yes”. This is a “booth review” and not a challenge by the coach.

This led to confusion. Sometimes, coaches will throw a challenge flag after the 2 minute warning. Either the coach was confused about the rule, or was intentionally delaying the game. The NFL decided to crack down on this, by penalizing teams for throwing a challenge flag inappropriately.

The NFL changed the replay rule again. In addition to the 2 minute warning or overtime, certain “big plays” were added to the “booth review” category. If the ruling by the on-field referees is a touchdown or turnover, then it’s a “booth review” with no challenge needed. This led to even more confusion, because some more plays are “booth reviews”. Also, if the ruling on the field is “not a touchdown” but the coach believes it is a touchdown, he needs to throw the challenge flag. That also is potentially confusing.

That’s what happened to Detroit. It was a touchdown, but the runner should have been ruled down much earlier, before the score and big gain. It was a “booth review”, but the coach threw the red challenge flag.

The penalty is too harsh, for incorrectly throwing a challenge flag. If it’s a “booth review” play and the coach throws the challenge flag, it’s a 15 yard penalty *AND* the team is denied the opportunity for a replay review. Because the coach threw the challenge flag on a “booth review” play, he got a 15 yard penalty *AND* was denied the chance to have the touchdown reversed by replay.

Someone could argue “An NFL coach should know the rules!”, but it’s a complicated rule that keeps changing, and the penalty for breaking it is too big compared to the offense.

There’s an obvious solution. If a coach throws a challenge flag during a “booth review” situation, then he should be charged a timeout, with no other penalty. The coach should also be charged a timeout if he throws the challenge flag for something that is not subject to replay review, i.e. a holding penalty. That would be a fair penalty, and would prevent a coach from throwing a challenge flag inappropriately to delay the game. The 15 yard penalty and denial of a “booth review” should only be imposed if the team is out of timeouts. The current rule is way too harsh.

This story is interesting. Uber is a taxi service that lets people book rides via text message. Instead of hailing a cab, you send a text message to Uber, and a car service is dispatched to your location.

What’s the problem? It’s so easy and convenient. The State taxi monopoly sees it as a threat.

In most states, only licensed taxis are allowed to pick up passengers on the street. Car service is also allowed, but you have to book the ride in advance.

In NYC, the taxi medallion licenses are worth $1M. The medallion owners earn economic rent because the State restricts competition. In NYC, some policemen do nothing but crack down on “illegal taxi businesses”. In effect, those policemen are working to protect the profits of the taxi cartel.

Due to the taxi monopoly, you can only get a cab at an airport or in the busy parts of Manhattan.

Before cell phones, “you must book a ride by phone” was enough of an obstacle to protect the taxi monopoly. Now that everyone has a cell phone, services like uber become much more viable.

In many states, the taxi monopoly is suing to block uber. They may lobby for law changes that ruin uber’s business. This is an excellent example of a monopoly using the State to block competition.

Thisstorywas interesting. Seaside Heights was hit pretty hard by hurricane Sandy. After the storm, many cars and boats were scattered everywhere.

The government hired a towing company to remove cars. However, the towing company was only authorized to tow cars that were blocking the street. They were too aggressive. They started towing cars that were in someone’s driveway or were parked legally. Also, they started charged too high a fee, for people who wanted to recover their car after it was towed.

The towing company was given a perverse incentive. They got paid based on number of cars towed. Therefore, the incentive is to tow as many cars as possible, even those that didn’t need to be towed.

There were several problems. The towing company was given a monopoly for removing cars from the street. The incentive was to tow as many cards as possible. In this case, it looks like they were caught. They might have gotten away with it if they weren’t so greedy and flagrant.

[...] reluctant to address the fiscal cliff before the elections. Some even argue that this is entirely a manufactured crisis that will soon be addressed, albeit on a temporary basis, by an act of Congress after the election. [...]

FSK, I have to disagree with this post of yours. Sometimes I think of becoming energy independent.This is technically feasible but not economically - payback period is very long considering current electricity prices. Electricity prices are way lower than they could have been. Electrical mafia is not that bad in comparison to other mafias...

It's still a mafia, due to the State-granted monopoly. I'm referring to the delays restoring power, rather than other aspects of the monopoly.

It's possible to have genuine economy of scale, and collect economic rent due to the State-granted monopoly.

After hurricane Sandy, the mainstream media decried “evil price gougers”. That actually is what happens in a free market. When there’s a shortage, prices rise.

Suppose the “normal” price for an item is $10. During a crisis, the “fair” price may be $100 or more.

When there’s a shortage, prices should be allowed to rise. That rewards people who had inventory prior to the disaster. Higher prices also provide an incentive to import supplies.

By banning “price gouging”, the State prevents normal functioning of markets. When prices are not allowed to rise, you have shortages, lines, and rationing.

One example is gasoline rationing. It would seem evil if the price of gasoline were allowed to rise to $10/gallon. By not raising prices, instead there are shortages and rationing. If prices were higher, there would be an incentive to import gasoline from other states, by truck if necessary. If prices were higher, people would be more cautious about using gasoline, reducing demand.

Even though it was illegal to raise prices, some people did it anyway. They made under-the-table deals. Those people aren’t criminals. Actually, they are agorists helping to meet demand, even though they didn’t think of themselves as practicing counter-economics.

How should resources be allocated in an emergency? The only reasonable answer is a market. Otherwise, there’s shortages and rationing. By forbidding price increases during an emergency, the State prevents normal functioning of markets. Price increases provide an incentive to import supplies. Price increases send a signal to customers that they should use supplies carefully. Government exacerbates the problem by imposing price controls, and then people who work around the bad law are treated as criminals.

People who raise prices in an emergency aren’t evil. That’s the way markets should function.

There were a lot of delays restoring power after hurricane Sandy. A lot of people still don’t have electricity. People are complaining about delays and bureaucratic overhead.

Those arguments miss the real point. The energy corporation has a monopoly. It makes no difference if they do a great job, or a barely competent job.

When there is a power outage, the electricity monopoly’s only cost is lost revenue. They don’t bill for the time you have no service. There is no penalty for delays restoring service, other than politicians starting to get angry.

Under normal circumstances, only a small number of repair crews are needed. Hiring and training extra repair crews costs money. They maximize monopoly profits by having a shortage of repair crews during a emergency.

I'm sure that stuff happens the rich just help eachother get richer and stay on top the last five he dvr boxes I had all crashed within a year and it happening g as we speak fox never works just a black screen making me miss x factor tonight after resetting it witch sometimes helps it didn't work all said and done all there stuff is junk and don't work while you still over pay them for junk every month

4) Bad employees depress good employees as bad employees get paid more for less work. As such the good employees resign in disgust.

In one company I worked for I worked 10 - 15 hours more a week than all the other people in the office. Because I was a recent graduate and the job I had just before paid a low salary (for which my current salary was based upon), I got paid far less. It was not a sustainable situation. Plus whenever I asked for a vacation, I got turned down. No money and no time off makes Jack itchy.

Well, it's time for me to start sending out resumes and look for a new job. Ideally, I should start my own business. That isn't as easy as it sounds.

In this case, I was the victim of workplace bullying. The consultants from "Bigtime Evil Consulting" were bullying me, because I was discovering bugs in the lousy software they had written. Anyway, it isn't my problem anymore.

This time, the bad guys won. I'm unemployed, they kept their jobs, and they got rid of someone who was exposing their incompetence.

My problem was I got depressed and my stable moderate income lessened my motivation to work and make more money.

I am got into a rut and really had spoken much with new people.

I had some interaction with a few new people, had exposure to some new types of technology and a couple of things clicked in my head and I'm on the way to getting back to my old self - or rather a fraction of my old intense self.

I've got 25 years software development experience, and I can tell you, unfortunately, that this kind of thing happens a LOT. You're a good programmer who is dropped into a project that's basically a pile of shit, and you're supposed to add new features. But you can't add the features due to bugs, and the people who created the pile of shit don't want you to fix their bugs, because it will make them look bad. And eventually either (a) they sabotage or badmouth you and you get canned or (b) you finally can't take it anymore and leave. (Getting sick is often a result of the stress from having to put up with it, too, by the way.)

In this case, I was a user doing QA testing and UAT. I was not a programmer. However, the project was one big disaster.

I was giving detailed bug reports. They were closing bug reports without actually fixing the problem.

By getting rid of me, the evil consultants have an easier time covering up the bugs. The bad guys won this time.

I'm 99%+ convinced that I got sick due to the stress of the hostility from the evil consultants. I should be disciplined enough to not let it affect me, but this was a lot of hostility from highly skilled evil people.